Another grammar question

[LimpyLionel]

I've seen some sentences with an and after a comma, and some with not.

Here's a couple of examples of what I have seen. But which is correct?

A - My favourite films are 'Goodfellas', 'Apocalypse Now', and 'Raging Bull'.

B - My favourite films are 'Goodfellas', 'Apocalypse Now', and 'Raging Bull'.

+

A. My brother, my cousin and my uncle, all came with me to Ibiza last year.

B. My brother, my cousin, and my uncle, all came with me to Ibiza last year.

And can you give me some examples when to use a comma, and when not to use it.

Thanks. ;-)

[DTCwordfan]

Generally, you do not start sentences with a conjunction......you have been to heavily influenced by the Americans.

Having said that, I occasionally use the conjunction in this form in my "erotic" writing to emphasise/emphasize a point at the end of a paragraph. I do not use them at the start of a para.

[Ric.ror]

Well I think it's bad grammer

[sherrardk]

Starting a sentence with 'and' indicates of a lack of vocabulary.

[DTCwordfan]

And brain, perhaps, Sherrard?

[sherrardk]

I used to (amongst other things) check personal statements for UCAS applications and so many of them would be and this and and that. Good grief.

(PS - DTCrosswordfan, what sort of erotic writing (or is it for personal use only)?)

[DTCwordfan]

various sorts.....literotica for example and more recently femdomcave

[boxtops]

Thank you DT, I don't intend to be rude to Lionel but this is very basic stuff, and there are excellent grammar books in the shops (and, indeed, in the local library).

[sherrardk]

Bit worried to google it DT - don't want to see anything I shouldn't (I've lived a very sheltered life).

[carmalee]

gen2 - have just come back to this thread and agree with you - my previous post was wrong

[Intel1983]

favorite*

[DTCwordfan]

LL, the thing is to get access to a good guide on grammar and then write, and write. This naturally leads you to doing your own proof reading and that, in itself, will naturally lead you to the correct placement of commas, colons, semi-colons and all the rest as the punctutation should reflect the flow of what you want to say and how you want to say it.

I will admit that things like quotation marks can be difficult, but there are rules and they differ across the Pond.

[ABerrant]

http://www.theanswerb...uk/find/answer/122188

[DTCwordfan]

Lol, sherrard. The key thing is that practice does improve writing style and, within, that punctuation.

I give some leeway here as we alll make silly mistakes in the rush to publish, as if we were speaking on-line, so I am not a pedantic when it comes to AB. However, bad grammar on letters and things like menus really bugs me.

[LimpyLionel]

DT - You didn't have to answser. We get it, you're clever that us all. I'm not; that's why I ask questions.

[LimpyLionel]

*more clever, rather

[sherrardk]

Totally agree DT - one of the things I can do is 'mark' typing and word processing so I check stuff my husband sends out, etc but I make loads of mistakes on here (I blame this stupid iPad keyboard). Hate spelling mistakes too but wouldn't point it out on here (but was vicious when I was teaching). also have a thing about punctuation but noticed (when I working) that us Welshies seemed to have thing about it.

[boxtops]

Not clever, Lionel, just a lover of grammatical accuracy. I am interested to know from you why these questions appear at regular intervals - I've always been happy to offer help, but we do go over old ground sometimes. It is good to see people enquiring about punctuation and syntax (and many of us have differences of opinion based on what we ourselves were taught).

[DTCwordfan]

I am not saying that, as there are many here who are much cleverer than me.

The advice is get yourself a good grammar book and so you can (quietly) solve many of these grammatical issues before launching forth on AB.

However, I will make a suggestion and that is for you to contact the Ed and see if you can raise a "Grammar" sub-category under the Arts and Literature section of "Topics."

That would be a natural home for these sorts of questions that many of us could then avoid.

[DTCwordfan]

I agree, boxtops, there does appear to be a particular regularity to these types of threads that are being raised by LL, and then a perverse interweaving of issues raised, as well as a tedious repetition of points.

Remember the parentheses thread as an example of this convolution? I believe that he is getting some perverse pleasure from this.

[LimpyLionel]

Ok. All I want is to get better at grammar. Thanks for the advice anyway.